Music blog + Vampire Weekend | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog+vampire-weekend
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016Sat, 10 Dec 2016 01:14:49 GMT2016-12-10T01:14:49Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
The best albums of 2013: No 4 – Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekendhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/17/best-albums-2013-vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-city
No more a novelty band, Vampire Weekend encountered and faced up to dread on their brilliant third album<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/series/best-albums-of-2013">See all our albums of the year coverage here</a><p>How does a record so concerned with dilemmas of Jewish theology, so in thrall to the doomy ticking of clocks, reach No 1 both in the Billboard and UK charts, selling roughly 750,000 copies to date? Modern Vampires of the City was recently revealed as <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2013-20131202/vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-of-the-city-19691231">Rolling Stone's album of the year as well</a>. Not many records pull off a commercial-critical one-two, even fewer do it while this laden with dread. "There's a tombstone right in front of you/ And everyone I know," croons Ezra Koenig, on just one of the dozens of references to mortality and the remorseless passing of time on Vampire Weekend's third album.</p><p>Modern Vampires of the City – the title lifts a line from Junior Reid's unity anthem, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXDaomwjk3Y">One Blood</a> – achieves all this by being dazzlingly elliptical; hiding its insights under bushels of fun. Take the first single: with its surf guitar and pell-mell pace, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG6lTQNW04I">Diane Young</a> might sound as though it's just a tune about a photogenic good-time girl crashing a Saab. But she is, literally, dying young, and – as drummer Chris Thomson pummels his kit so hard you wince for his wrists – singer Ezra Koenig is wondering whether seizing the day (YOLO – you only live once – in today's parlance) is worth the cost.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/17/best-albums-2013-vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-city">Continue reading...</a>MusicCulturePop and rockIndieVampire WeekendTue, 17 Dec 2013 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/17/best-albums-2013-vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-cityPhotograph: Sarah Lee/GuardianVampire Weekend … not toothless, but not bearing fangs. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the GuardianPhotograph: Sarah Lee/GuardianVampire Weekend … not toothless, but not bearing fangs. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the GuardianKitty Empire2013-12-17T12:00:00ZThe best albums of 2013 (so far)https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jul/05/best-albums-of-2013
We asked readers to nominate their favourite albums of the first half of the year. Here are the results<p>Having just passed 2013's half-way point, it's time for our now-traditional look at the best albums of the year-to-date.</p><p>Readers have been voting in their hundreds, although we seem to have flown under the radar of the X Factor-loving factions who usually swarm to these things to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/dec/22/best-albums-songs-2011-readers">express their love for Matt Cardle</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jul/05/best-albums-of-2013">Continue reading...</a>MusicCultureEverything EverythingThe NationalBoards of CanadaVampire WeekendDaft PunkDavid BowieKanye WestLaura MarlingSuedeFri, 05 Jul 2013 12:58:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/jul/05/best-albums-of-2013Photograph: PRDavid Bowie's The Next Day – does it make your top ten?Photograph: PRDavid Bowie's The Next Day – does it make your top ten?Adam Boult2013-07-05T12:58:00ZMusic Weekly podcast: Beyoncé is backhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2013/mar/21/music-weekly-beyonce-vampire-weekend
We rate the return of Beyoncé, Pete Paphides journeys back to 1992, and Kieran talks to London DJ Bok Bok<p><a href="http://www.beyonce.com/">Beyoncé</a>, <a href="http://www.vampireweekend.com/">Vampire Weekend</a> and, more surprisingly, the original <a href="http://www.mutyakeishasiobhan.com/">Sugababes</a> are back. We rate their return on this week's Singles Club.</p><p>Pete Paphides takes us back to 1992, when shoegazing and grunge ruled the world, in his Parallel History of Pop. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2013/mar/21/music-weekly-beyonce-vampire-weekend">Continue reading...</a>MusicPop and rockVampire WeekendSugababesBeyoncéCultureIndieR&BThu, 21 Mar 2013 15:53:29 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2013/mar/21/music-weekly-beyonce-vampire-weekendPhotograph: RexBeyoncé Photograph: RexPhotograph: RexBeyoncé Photograph: RexPresented by Alexis Petridis and Kieran Yates. Produced by Simon Barnard2013-03-21T15:53:29ZLady Sovereign comes out - but does anyone care? | Rebecca Nicholsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/14/lady-sovereign
It seems only the media is concerned about pop stars' sexuality, so why is it still important that they nail their colours to the mast?<p>"Magazines would always ask about it but [questions about my sexuality] would get stopped by my publicists. It was my choice, too, because I was a bit worried but now I don't really give a shit." Lady Sovereign confirmed what a lot of people already suspected with an <a href="http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/features.asp?AID=6765">interview in lesbian magazine Diva this month</a>, and she's not the only gay musician who doesn't really care about disclosing their sexuality. Earlier this year <a href="http://out.com/detail.asp?id=26494">Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij opened up to Out magazine</a>, describing the band's song Diplomat's Son as "a six-minute dancehall song about a gay relationship". XL signing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/arts/music/21miranda.html">Holly Miranda similarly shrugged to the New York Times</a>: "I don't want people to listen to it because I'm gay or not listen because I'm gay."</p><p>She's right. It shouldn't matter. Even the phrase "openly gay" now sounds hopelessly old-fashioned. But Miranda added something else. "At the same time, to hide it feels like a horrible thing, maybe for some young girl or boy who was in the position I was in 13 or 14 years ago, in a religious home and not knowing if it's OK." In a recent interview he gave to the Guardian's Alex Needham <a href="http://loft965.com/2010/04/20/kele-okereke-on-the-cover-of-butt-magazine/">in Butt magazine</a>, Bloc Party's Kele Okereke said that he's talking about his sexuality more now, with gay magazines at least, because "whenever I go out, I'm always stopped by young, gay kids who say it's really encouraging to see someone like me being out in a relatively mainstream band".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/14/lady-sovereign">Continue reading...</a>Bloc PartyVampire WeekendMusicLGBT rightsLady GagaMadonnaCultureSexualityFri, 14 May 2010 12:02:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/14/lady-sovereignPhotograph: Channel 4 / Rex FeaturesSovereign state ... rapper comes out of the closet. Photograph: Channel 4/Rex FeaturesPhotograph: Channel 4 / Rex FeaturesSovereign state ... rapper comes out of the closet. Photograph: Channel 4/Rex FeaturesRebecca Nicholson2010-05-14T12:02:56ZNew music video: Vampire Weekend- Toy Selecta Contra Mashhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/11/vampire-weekend
Got your head around their new album yet? Yes? Then let this Technicolor mash scramble your brain all over again<p>Since Vampire Weekend put their new album <a href="http://www.vampireweekend.com/">Contra</a> online last week, you should have had time to decide whether it's a yay or nay for the band's second LP (for us, it's a definite yay). </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/11/vampire-weekend">Continue reading...</a>Vampire WeekendPop and rockElectronic musicMusicCultureMon, 11 Jan 2010 15:00:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/11/vampire-weekendguardian.co.uk/music2010-01-11T15:00:30ZVampire Weekend unleash free track Horchatahttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/oct/06/vampire-weekend-track-horchata
Horchata is the first Vampire Weekend song to be released from their second album, Contra<p>"In December drinking horchata/I look psychotic in a balaclava" </p><p><br>And what better way for Vampire Weekend to announce their comeback? This marimba-heavy track, called simply Horchata, comes from their forthcoming second album Contra and is available to <a href="http://www.vampireweekend.com/">download for free from their website</a> all week. It's really rather good. We were about to say that it's the first pop song centred around a milky Latin American drink, but Wikipedia directed us towards Death Vessel, who have a track called <a href="http://mog.com/music/Death_Vessel/Stay_Close/Deep_in_the_Horchata#play">Deep in the Horchata</a>. So now you know. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/oct/06/vampire-weekend-track-horchata">Continue reading...</a>Vampire WeekendPop and rockWorld musicMusicCultureIndieTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:24:21 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/oct/06/vampire-weekend-track-horchataPhotograph: PRVampire Weekend look a bit boring here, but rest assured they look 'psychotic' in balaclavasPhotograph: PRVampire Weekend look a bit boring here, but rest assured they look 'psychotic' in balaclavasguardian.co.uk/music2009-10-06T09:24:21ZHow Vampire Weekend fans help 'write' the songshttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/may/12/vampire-weekend
The bizarre range of interpretations of the Ivy League indie rockers' lyrics testifies to the imaginative powers of fans and their intense identification with the music<p>The other night I went to see Vampire Weekend participate in a series of New York literary/music events called <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/lecture_circuit/literary_page_six__115973.asp">Happy Ending</a>. Taking a break from recording their second album, the band played two micro-sets of three songs each (frustratingly not including any of their work-in-progress), which bookended readings by three young cult novelists: Wells Tower, John Wray and Arthur Philips. It would be an exaggeration to describe the event as star-studded, but Zadie Smith was standing right next to us, the model Agyness Deyn kept sauntering past, and during their second set Vampire frontman Ezra Koenig gave a shout-out to movie director Ed Burns. Mostly, though, the place – Joe's Pub in the East Village – seemed crammed with young literati and publishing people.</p><p>So the vibe was completely un-rock'n'roll. And thus perfect for Vampire Weekend, who "oppose all rock'n'roll" to the point of drawing up a charter of principles when they were forming that included the decree that no member would ever be seen onstage or in a publicity photograph wearing a T-shirt or jeans. One reason they're such a polarising group, loathed as often as loved, is that they've outed the secret truth of indie-rock as the music of the upper middle-class. Indeed, if the members of Vampire Weekend weren't in a band, you could easily imagine them working at a publisher or a small, cool literary magazine a la The Believer, ie. exactly the kind of thing some of their Ivy League peers doubtless went on to do after graduation. Twenty-five years ago Vampire Weekend would probably have been a group similar to the Replacements or Dinosaur Jr, downwardly mobile slackers making blurry, slurred anthems of defeatism and despondency. But Vampire Weekend's music is dainty, sprightly, hyper-literate and crisply enunciated because purposefully being or doing the opposite has practically zero meaning or cultural traction in 2009. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/may/12/vampire-weekend">Continue reading...</a>Vampire WeekendPop and rockMusicCultureTue, 12 May 2009 11:17:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/may/12/vampire-weekendPhotograph: PRVampire Weekend ... a MA course in their lyrics will soon be availabe at Havard. Photograph: PRPhotograph: PRVampire Weekend ... a MA course in their lyrics will soon be availabe at Havard. Photograph: PRSimon Reynolds2009-05-12T11:17:41ZMusic Weekly - featuring Vampire Weekendhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/31/musicweeklyfeaturingvampire
They pop by the studio to discuss privilege and J-Lo, then Lightspeed Champion arrives and plays us his track Dry Lips live. Plus: a secret interview<p> Vampire Weekend: On weekdays, they are just mortal</p><p>On this week's British Sea Power Weekly... Sorry, we mean, of course, Guardian Music Weekly, we have a sit down and good old-fashioned chat with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend">Vampire Weekend</a>. Their debut album, also called Vampire Weekend, is out this week and the band were in town playing some shows and doing some promo and generally soaking up the English hospitality. We discussed whether their LP is a "concept album about privilege", how their distinctive sound came about, and what J-Lo has do with their next album. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/31/musicweeklyfeaturingvampire">Continue reading...</a>MusicVampire WeekendThu, 31 Jan 2008 16:21:19 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/31/musicweeklyfeaturingvampireGuardian/Music2008-01-31T16:21:19ZFresh Links: Videorama with We Are Scientistshttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/29/freshlinksvideoramawithwe
After Hours cinema, plus new moving pictures from Hercules and Love Affair, Michael Jackson and Rihanna. Also, Vampire Weekend mocked<p>Video of the day: We Are Scientists' new video for After Hours. They describe it as "a wild new type of video that really probably changes the face of videos pretty permanently". We describe it as a real date with a dog.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/29/freshlinksvideoramawithwe">Continue reading...</a>MusicVampire WeekendWe Are ScientistsHercules and Love AffairTue, 29 Jan 2008 06:00:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/29/freshlinksvideoramawithweGuardian/Music2008-01-29T06:00:50ZNaming music genres is funhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/24/judgingbythesepagesthere
Britpop works. Shoegazing doesn't. Today I'm trying to come up with a label for Vampire Weekend and co<p> Vampire Weekend: white college rock with African rhythms</p><p>Judging by these pages there seem to be two big new ideas in music for 2008. <a href="http://music.theguardian.com/rock/story/0,,2241686,00.html">One is eccentricity</a>, with its adherents already being dubbed The New Eccentrics. The other is white college rock bands <a href="http://arts.theguardian.com/filmandmusic/story/0,,2226783,00.html">borrowing African rhythms</a>. That scene, spearheaded by Vampire Weekend, doesn't as yet appear to have been given a name.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/24/judgingbythesepagesthere">Continue reading...</a>World musicMusicCultureVampire WeekendBritpopThu, 24 Jan 2008 09:30:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/24/judgingbythesepagesthereTrevor Baker2008-01-24T09:30:30ZFresh Links: New videos from Vampire Weekend and Janet Jacksonhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/11/freshlinksnewvideosfromva
And free downloads from the Wave Pictures and Nancy. Oh, and the Smiths are reforming<p>Video of the day: Vampire Weekend, A-Punk.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/11/freshlinksnewvideosfromva">Continue reading...</a>MusicCultureVampire WeekendFri, 11 Jan 2008 05:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/jan/11/freshlinksnewvideosfromvaGuardian/Music2008-01-11T05:00:04ZFresh Links: Vampire Weekend's new videohttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/nov/15/freshlinksvampireweekendsn
In today's round-up, more moving pictures from 50 Cent and Ryan Adams and Celine's love of metal<p>Video of the day: Fresh Links supports Vampire Weekend, but are divided on the merits of their new video for Mansard Roof. What think you?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/nov/15/freshlinksvampireweekendsn">Continue reading...</a>MusicVampire WeekendThu, 15 Nov 2007 05:00:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/nov/15/freshlinksvampireweekendsnGuardian/Music2007-11-15T05:00:56ZFresh links: 100% whole web contenthttps://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/sep/14/freshlinks100wholewebcont
From Vampire Weekend to Internet Sheriff, here's what you need to start your day.<p>Seen this one before but, apparently, <a href="http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/simpleSearch.do?searchUID=&amp;pGroupID=1&amp;simpleSearchString=Chinese+Democracy+&amp;primaryID=1&amp;btnSubmitSearch.x=16&amp;btnSubmitSearch.y=11">Chinese Democracy the new album by Guns 'n' Roses is due for release on February 12, 2008</a>.</p><p>Call 'em new wave, call 'em punk, call 'em classical. We just call New York's Vampire Weekend <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend">really quite good</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/sep/14/freshlinks100wholewebcont">Continue reading...</a>MusicVampire WeekendFri, 14 Sep 2007 04:37:29 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/sep/14/freshlinks100wholewebcontGuardian/Music2007-09-14T04:37:29Z